Royalton CHIC Antigua, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort - Adults Only

Let me start by saying that this resort has good potential but missed the mark COMPLETELY. I will start with the positive. - The majority of the staff is amazing, but many places seem understaffed. I dealt with some amazing staff like Vaness (not sure you can find them as amazing as she is) and Selina from the front desk, Tamica (not sure what her position is), Hassan, Nigel, Hannah bar staff, Jeanette, Ms Kay and Shawann from the restaurants, and many other wonderful staff members. Let me not forget to mention the Diamond Club manager who helped us resolve an issue even though we were not in the Diamond Club. However, there was a guy in a white shirt (walking around like the Incredible Hulk or like he was the most important person on the resort but was not the GM) which I believe he was over the bars outside and food and he was so disrespectful to the staff. I could not believe how degrading he was to the staff in front of me and other guests. - The hotel is nice but the rooms are rather small. - 3 floors but no elevator for the rooms (stairs only). The staff do take your luggage to your room. - The entertainment was good but they only had a small sports bar after 11pm. - Plenty of chairs around the pool area - Spa service was good. - Check-in was not long but the process can be very long if a lot of guests come at once. They really need to reconsider how it is done. Now the bad - The food was the absolute worst I have had at a resort. It was nothing hardly left after 9:30 am for breakfast, most food at the buffet was old, cold, and with no flavor at all for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Italian was the only restaurant where the food was ok but not great. In the rest of the restaurants, the food was cold and flavorless. It was hard to get hot food or even warm. The best food was hamburgers and chicken from the food truck. The food needs a complete overhaul. My question is how do you mess up breakfast? - None of the food had any flavor and I mean no flavor at all. - Housekeeping was a complete joke. They half clean the rooms but never leave towels or if they do they would leave only one and nothing else. We had to call every single day. -They need a new Housekeeping manager and a Head Chef because these two areas are a complete disaster. -They need more staff in food areas because the wait time is insane. Let me say this - THE STAFF makes this place incredible. If they did not have good staff it would be horrible. However, they need to get more help because the staff ALL seemed overworked. I give this an overall of 2 stars because the food was so bad and housekeeping was right behind the food. Read less

As a seasoned traveler who has vacationed in over 40 countries and several Caribbean islands, I can confidently say that Royalton Chic Antigua has the worst customer service I have ever experienced. I paid for an oceanfront Diamond Club room, and the customer service was an epic failure! Marriott should be ashamed to call this a “luxury” resort as part of their Autograph Collection! When I checked into my room, I didn’t immediately notice the hair in my shower until my first use. Disgusted, I reported it to the Diamond Club front desk, who assured me housekeeping would address it. Later that day, my room was “serviced,” but the hair was still in the exact same spot. If the shower was thoroughly cleaned, how is the hair still there? If you were informed about the hair, why is it still there? I escalated the issue to the assistant manager, who called the executive housekeeper. The manager assured me it would be taken care of and promised to call me once it had been resolved. Yet, when I returned to my room at 6:00 PM, the hair was STILL there, in the exact same spot. Worse, housekeeping left a dirty cleaning brush on my sink—adding insult to injury. When I tried to escalate further, the manager was “unavailable.” The assistant manager apologized profusely and assured me she would contact housekeeping again and call me back in five minutes. Twenty minutes passed without a call. When I followed up, she couldn’t provide an exact timeline for resolution—despite knowing I needed to shower before my 7:00 dinner reservation. She kept repeating, “They are on the way.” Ultimately, my butler (a Diamond Club perk) removed the hair and the filthy cleaning brush himself because housekeeping never arrived before I had to leave for dinner. When I informed the assistant manager that my butler resolved the issue because housekeeping never came, she didn’t even apologize. The next day, I met with the executive housekeeper, who apologized and asked how she could make it right. The best she could offer was a late (1:00 PM) checkout. Bottom line: what others have posted about the lack of cleanliness here is not an exaggeration! To make matters worse, housekeeping turned the AC off twice after cleaning, leaving the room unbearably hot upon my return. After the first incident, I left a note requesting they leave it on. Even after the note, they turned it off again the next day. My 7:00 dinner reservation at the overwater restaurant was another debacle. After being seated, I had to ask for my waiter. I waited over 75 minutes to receive my food—including the appetizer—despite escalating to the restaurant manager. The food was lukewarm and mediocre at best. The waitress who took my order didn’t return to my table during the entire 75-minute wait. I only saw her again when I left my table to inquire about my food and when she finally brought it. The long wait times mentioned in other reviews are NOT exaggerated—they’re spot on. When the hostess checked me in for dinner reservations at Olympus, they asked if I had any allergies or dietary restrictions and wrote them down. My waitress asked the same question. However, when my main entrée arrived, it included a sauce containing the very ingredient I had explicitly mentioned I could not have. I wouldn’t have known unless I asked before tasting it. Given the incompetence I had experienced, I was wise to ask. Every restaurant had at least two items on the menu that were unavailable. As many others have posted, the food is just okay—not the flavorful, high-quality cuisine one expects at a luxury resort. Both breakfast buffets had several dirty plates and glasses. The majority of the employees I experienced were incompetent and the overall resort customer service was abysmal. Additionally, the lack of accountability at all levels was astonishing. From unresolved cleanliness issues to outrageously long wait times, this experience was unacceptable for any traveler, let alone one paying for a premium Diamond Club experience. Read less